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Status Quo
' Status Quo' are an English rock band whose music is characterized by their distinctive brand of boogie rock. The group originated in The Spectres, founded in 1962 by schoolboys Francis Rossi and Alan Lancaster. After a number of lineup changes, the band became The Status Quo in 1967 and Status Quo in 1969. Their drummer from 1982-5 was Pete Kircher (ex-Honeybus), who left after the band's appearance at Live Aid. In 1991, Status Quo received a Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. The band continues to play music, despite facing criticism of being uncool and lacking air play on BBC Radio One during the 90's and beyond. In 2016, guitarist Rick Parfitt died in hospital after announcing couple of months previously that he would no longer be performing with his band after suffering from a heart attack in the summer of that year. Links To Peel Peel was an avid fan of the group in the 70's and even wrote a complimentary text on their 1975 Live E.P.http://www.discogs.com/Status-Quo-Live/release/970403: "It is 1968 or 1969, some year like that, and Gaffer Peel is compere at a rock festival in Nottingham. The organizers expected a crowd of 40.000, got 400, and a poor time is being had by all. Band after band has numbered us with meaningful stuff about the revolution (whatever happened to it anyway?), or bored us with their suite base on 'Alice Through The Looking Glass'. I'm supposed to dart between the two stages to announce each band but I'm busy trying to fascinate a young woman (unsuccessfully, I'm afraid) and this shower get on stage unannounced. "Ello", the below, stirring the stoned handful out of their torpor, 'you're not gonna like us at all, we make hit singles and we're very loud'. They didn't, they do and they are. At the time I was outraged. Who, I asked myself, are these outrageously vulgar yobboes? We wanted beauty and truth, not rowdiness; certain substances, not brown ale. Status Quo played, unabashed and basic, and since then, secretly at first because, I mean, Quo weren't, as we said then, where it was at, I've been a believer. Amazing to think that when they first annoying the neighbours from scout halls and cricket pavilions, John Kennedy was still alive, only a fistful of daft Scousers and Hamburgers had heard of the Beatles, and I was selling crop insurance in West Texas. Even more amazing in this is - thirteen years on, their music is so fresh and vital that wherever you do a disco you know it's going to be a either 'Brown Sugar' or a Quo record that finally get's them moving. You know too, that there's always going to be a row of loonies - Maybe including you - who'll get down into that celebrated Quo boogie stance and churn to and fro like creatures possessed. Status Quo are good lads, they make exciting and unpretentious records, they make me feel positively carefree, have saved many a potentially disastrous gig for me, and if they rock on for another thirteen years - well that's just fine by me.." This story is also quoted in their first Autobiography "Just For The Record" (published by Transworld 1993) Few people in the music media were willing to take Status Quo's change of direction seriously. At the time Pink Floyd and Chicken Shack were the obviously cool bands, and Quo, because of their first pop hits, were still struggling for the recognition they deserved. One breakthrough came when Radio One DJ John Peel saw them perform at a heavy rock festival in Leicester in 1970. "I couldn't get over how cocky they were", he commented later. "They bounded on - in front of about 400 hippies sitting gently on the floor - and shouted out: Right, you're not going to like us, so get ready. Despite myself I have to confess that I found myself liking them. They were loud and abrasive and very exciting. And although I didn't play their first single that year, precisely because of who they were, I did play "In My Chair". By the following year we brought them in for a session on Night Ride Peel had gone to Dublin in summer 1979 to see an all-day event headlined by the group, and had enjoyed their set http://peel.wikia.com/wiki/02_July_1979. After the 70's, Peel was not keen on their music, which changed in the 80's when the band dropped their boogie rock style. In the 80's and beyond, he rarely played some of their music and if he did, it was always the group's material from the 70's. However, he defended his choice of Down Down for the Peelenium 1974: "Let me tell you, Status Quo actually recorded three sessions for this programme, and I did play the whole of a Status Quo LP upon its release and interviewed the band as well, so I've got nothing to be ashamed of there." (18 November 1999). In 2002, the nightclub Fabric wanted Peel to compile a compilation of his favourite songs on their album. Peel suggested a track from Status Quo in their tracklist, and commented in an interview. "They wouldn’t let me put a Status Quo track on there, they thought that would be too uncool. I was a bit disappointed about that." http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A883604. On 14 September 2004, Peel mentioned that he was looking for a copy of the group's 1979 single "Whatever You Want" so that he could play it at gigs. A few weeks later, on 28 September 2004, Peel played the track after being sent a copy of the 7" by a listener as a late birthday present. After the DJ's death, the band's single Down Down was found amongst his most treasured 45s in John Peel's Record Box. The group appeared on the 2005 Channel 4 documentary devoted to the collection, describing how honoured they were when they found out that Peel kept a copy of their single in his special record box. Festive Fifty Entries *1977 Festive Fifty: Can't Give You More #25 Peelenium *Peelenium 1974: Down Down Live Concert Status Quo concert, first TX 24 March 1973. Repeated: 12 September 1977. Recorded Paris Theatre, 1973-03-01. #Junior's Wailing #Someone's Learning #In My Chair #Railroad #Don't Waste My Time #Paper Plane #Roadhouse Blues #Bye Bye Johnny Sessions 1. Recorded: 1972-02-07. Broadcast: 03 March 1972. Repeated: 12 May 1972 *Mean Girl / Na Na Na / Railroad / Someone's Leaving 2. Recorded: 1972-11-20. Broadcast: 07 December 1972. Repeated: 28 December 1972 *Don't Waste My Time /Young / Oh Baby / Parfitt / Unspoken Words / Paper Plane / Softer Ride / Lancaster 3. Recorded: 1973-01-08. Broadcast: 16 January 1973. Repeated: Unknown *Paper Plane / Softer Ride / Don't Waste My Time Other Shows Played (The following list was compiled only from the database of this site and Lorcan's Tracklistings Archive and is certainly incomplete. Please add further details if known.) ; 1968 *21 January 1968: Pictures Of Matchstick Men (7") Pye ;1970 * Unknown show(s): In My Chair (7") Pye (Peel quoted as saying this is the first time he played them in the Status Quo Autobiography) ;1972 *18 February 1972: Mean Girl (LP – Dog Of Two Head) Pye *02 November 1972: Paper Plane (7") Vertigo 6059 071 *02 November 1972: Softer Ride (7" - Softer Ride) Vertigo 6059 071 ;1973 *11 September 1973 (A Touch Of The Moon): Don’t Waste My Time ;1974 *02 May 1974: Break The Rules (7") Vertigo *19 December 1974: Down, Down (single) Vertigo (JP: “They’re a great band, you know, and that’s a great record, I think. One of their best ever, in my view.”) ;1976 *17 February 1976: unknown (LP - Blue For You) Vertigo *18 February 1976: unknown (LP - Blue For You) Vertigo *27 February 1976: That's A Fact (LP - Blue For You) Vertigo ;1977 *15 February 1977: Tracks from LP 'Live' *09 March 1977: Forty Five Hundred Times *07 June 1977: unknown *John Peel 70s Mixtape 1B: Caroline (LP - Hello) Vertigo *03 October 1977: Ring Of A Change (7", Single: Rockin' All Over The World) Vertigo *22 December 1977: Can’t Give You More (LP – Rockin’ All Over The World) Vertigo *26 December 1977: Can't Give You More (LP – Rockin’ All Over The World) Vertigo FF #25 ;1978 *10 July 1978: Mean Girl (single) Pye (JP: “There were a lot of Quo buffs at a gig that I did on Saturday night in Derby. Unfortunately there were also a great number of John Travolta fans there as well, so it was kind of a mixed gig.”) *17 August 1978: Again And Again (single) Vertigo *25 August 1978: Again And Again (7": Again And Again) (Vertigo) *29 August 1978: Again And Again (7") Vertigo QUO 1 (JP decides this is one of their best after his 10th listen...) *20 October 1978: Accident Prone / Let Me Fly / Like A Good Girl (LP – If You Can’t Stand The Heat) Vertigo *23 October 1978: I’m Giving Up My Worryin’ (LP – If You Can’t Stand The Heat) Vertigo *27 October 1978: unknown (Possibly a track from If You Can't Stand The Heat, to be released on 11 November 1978.) *07 November 1978: Accident Prone (LP – If You Can't Stand the Heat) Vertigo *13 November 1978: Accident Prone (7") Vertigo QUO 2 ;1979 *10 September 1979: Whatever You Want (7") Vertigo *12 September 1979: Whatever You Want (7”) Vertigo *19 September 1979: Whatever You Want (7”) Vertigo *15 October 1979: Who Asked You (LP - Whatever You Want) Vertigo *17 October 1979: Come Rock With Me/Rockin' On (LP - Whatever You Want) Vertigo *20 October 1979 (BFBS): Who Asked You (album - Whatever You Want) Vertigo 9102 037 ;1999 *24 June 1999: Down Down (Glastonbury Mix) *18 November 1999: 'Down Down (7")' (Vertigo) Peelenium 1974 ;2001 *17 April 2001: Down The Dust Pipe (Pye) ;2004 *28 September 2004: "Whatever You Want" (7") - (Vertigo) *28 October 2004: 'Down Down (7")' Vertigo Top Of The Pops *01 April 1982 (TOTP): Dear John #25 *05 May 1983 (TOTP): Pictures Of Matchstick Men (clip from 15 February 1968) *05 January 1984 (TOTP): Marguerita Time #05 See Also * Singles Reviews * UK Singles Chart Number Ones External Links *Wikipedia *Discogs *Official Website Category:Artists